And so it happened. Just weeks after Lilian Greaves made the unbelievable discovery, everything came crashing down.
The Monday was just like every other ordinary Mondays but then, Business Everyday broke the news. A single, meticulously sourced exposé on the paper's front page, and the main news on the television.
The headline wasn't subtle: "DFI DEPUTY DIRECTOR WARREN CALDRIDGE IMPLICATED IN SHADOW FINANCIAL NETWORK 'EXILE' – STOLE SEIZED ASSETS TO BUILD CRIMINAL EMPIRE."
Everything Caldridge had done up to that point was laid bare before everyone through that sledgehammer of an article.
It laid bare the pattern Lilian had unearthed: ArkOne, Madrigal, Cerberus, Valkyrie. It named names, cited internal routing logs (anonymously sourced, but chillingly specific), and detailed the reactivation of supposedly destroyed criminal infrastructure under the EXILE banner.
